EDITORIAL/Cindy Hyde-Smith for Senate

Close your eyes and imagine the United States Supreme Court without Brett Kavanaugh — and that’s the reason to send U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith back to Washington on Tuesday.

Hyde-Smith, appointed by Gov. Bryant in April to replace retiring Sen. Thad Cochran, sat on the rostrum of the United States Senate behind Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican from Maine and a swing vote, as she gave a rousing endorsement of Kavanaugh and the Constitution earlier this month. It was a historic moment demonstrating Hyde-Smith’s bona fides as a conservative.

Just two weeks into her role as a U.S. Senator, Hyde-Smith found herself presiding over the Senate and gaveling down the Democrat minority leader Mr. Schumer during a quorum call.

She has proven herself in a very short time, most notably receiving President Trump’s rousing endorsement.

Before joining the Senate, Hyde-Smith served as an effective and popular state Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, twice elected statewide. Before that, she was a rock-solid conservative in the state Senate and, like Ronald Reagan, fled the Democrat Party.

In her short time in the U.S. Senate, she has hit the ground running by fighting for Mississippi’s priorities on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and – in her role on the Senate Appropriations Committee — strengthening our military through shipbuilding on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

A cattle farmer and stockyard owner from Brookhaven, she knows the challenges faced by rural Mississippi and works to address those. She is pro-life, pro-gun and pro-property rights.

Her opponents are well known to us.

Democrat Mike Espy is a former congressman and served as President Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Agriculture before resigning in scandalous disgrace.

His supporters claim he was exonerated because a Washington, D.C. jury found him not guilty of rewarding lobbyists for their illegal and unethical gifts. It is true the jury did not find that he gave preferential treatment to the lobbyists. It is also true the lobbyists did give him the gifts which included trips to sporting events and even cash to his then-girlfriend so she could travel with him on official events.

We expect more from our elected officials. But Espy’s recent entanglements with the Canton Municipal Utilities (CMU), the Madison County Board of Supervisors, and his shady friend engineer Rudy Warnock demonstrate his judgment for avoiding shenanigans has not improved. What’s more, despite his attempts at playing the middle, he is a liberal Democrat.

And, remember Chris McDaniel? How could we forget? Despite his calls to drain the swamp in Washington, his greatest accomplishment as a state senator has been a string of specialty car tag bills. He’s not introduced a single bill to reform anything. Honk! Honk! That sums up his leadership.

McDaniel’s challenge of Cochran in the 2014 Republican Primary was both a comedic circus and epic tragedy.

His friends and allies concocted and were convicted of a conspiracy to photograph Cochran’s then-ailing wife in her nursing home bed to use for political gain.

The Attorney General said McDaniel’s campaign spokesperson paid an operative who fabricated a lie about Cochran’s campaign paying for votes.

McDaniel’s campaign staff was found locked in the Hinds County Courthouse along with the voting boxes on election night. He refused to concede when he lost the run-off and challenged it in court claiming cross-over voting using his own lawyer as an example of the “fraud.” (The Mississippi Supreme Court tossed his challenge.)

This year things have been more subdued. Sure, one of his county chairmen beat up a man in a bar after a McDaniel event, but his biggest failings have been the inability to get close to President Trump.

McDaniel was co-chairman of Mississippi for Ted Cruz in the 2016 Primary and criticized Trump and Trump’s supporters. He attempted to join the Steven Bannon bandwagon until the wheels came off and Alabama elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Let’s not repeat Roy Moore with McDaniel.

Then he hired a Cruz operative who was a top “Never-Trumper” leader. Then President Trump sealed his fate by endorsing Hyde-Smith. “A vote for Cindy is a vote for me,” Trump said at a recent Make America Great Again rally in DeSoto County.

McDaniel has also made public gaffes which appeared to many that he was suggesting most sexual assault allegations are fabricated and that black Mississippians should stop begging for government assistance.

What’s more, McDaniel started this year campaigning against Sen. Roger Wicker and then switched races. Gov. Phil Bryant called it “political opportunism.” It is worse! A vote for McDaniel is a vote for a Democrat because he can’t beat Espy in a run-off.

Cindy Hyde-Smith for U.S Senate.

Wicker for Senate

We heartily endorse Sen. Roger Wicker for re-election.

Without his efforts as National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman in 2016, there likely would not have been a Republican-controlled Senate which delivered tax cuts, strengthened our military through Wicker’s policy to create a 355-ship navy, confirmed conservative judges including two U.S. Supreme Court justices and cut regulations holding back business.

Wicker is tenacious in fighting for Mississippi priorities, compassionate in directing healthcare research funding, aggressive in supporting constituents against government bureaucracy and focused on standing up to murderous dictators and Russian oligarchs threatening human rights abroad.

If Republicans maintain control, he likely will be a full committee chairman this coming term. His opponent, Democrat David Baria, should be applauded for one thing: unlike most Mississippi Democrats he has not hidden his ultra-liberal values. He has embraced them. If you like liberals who want to raise taxes, increase regulations, spend more and put Senator Chuck Schumer in charge of the U.S. Senate, then Baria is your man. We believe that would be disastrous for our economy and the nation.

Guest for U.S. House

With the retirement of U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper, the two leading candidates in the race are Republican Michael Guest, the District Attorney for Madison and Rankin counties, and Democrat Michael Ted “Big Country” Evans, a state Representative and chicken farmer from Preston.

Guest is a solid conservative with a reputation for being a tough prosecutor focused on law and order.

Evans, while entertaining, is just another tax-and-spend Democrat who has been campaigning on his tractor like he’s Cliff Finch.

While Evans is a good person, Congress is a far more serious place than Finch-like tractor stunts. His first vote will be for Speaker of the House. Evans would have to support a Democrat like Nancy Pelosi along with the impeachment of President Trump or risk complete ostracization. That’s why Michael Guest is best for Congress.